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Egypt kidnap gangs burn Eritrean captives alive

SCORES of kidnapped Eritrean refugees are being doused with petrol and set alight by people-trafficking gangs because their families are unable to afford ransoms, it was claimed yesterday.

More than 10,000 refugees from Eritrea, one of the poorest countries in Africa, have been abducted and held to ransom by bedouin gangs in the Egyptian desert in the past four years, according to researchers.

They say more than 2,000 have been murdered as impoverished families were unable to pay sums of up to £25,000 demanded for their return. Others may have had hearts, lungs or kidneys removed and sold to the illegal organ trade.

A leading authority on the region said eight people, including a 22-year-old woman, had been burnt to death in the past fortnight after relatives failed to pay ransoms.

Mirjam van Reisen, a professor at Tilburg University in Holland, said “more than tens” of other victims had been